Military culture must wage war with itself

Members of the ADF Reconstruction Task Force (RTF) at the Oruzgan Province in southern Afghanistan in April 2007.

Department of Defence, file photo

Former infantry soldier Ben Wadham says the "rule of brothers" in the armed forces must be broken apart if women are to flourish in military careers.

The death of a female soldier from New Zealand in Afghanistan this week might give opponents of women in the military - particularly those in combat roles - cause for concern.

But it obscures the fact that NZ has had success integrating women into the sort of military roles that Equal Opportunity Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick says Australia has been less successful in achieving.

The release yesterday of part two of a review into the treatment of women in the Australian Defence Force - commissioned following last year's Skype scandal - details a culture of sexual harassment and "occupational segregation" that Broderick says "ruins lives".

The question today is not whether women will or should serve in traditionally male military roles - they are already doing so in countries like New Zealand and several European countries, and even in Australia full employment roles in the ADF were opened to women in July last year. In light of the Human Rights Commission report, released by Broderick, the question now is how will the ADF successfully integrate women into doing this kind of work?

Part of the trouble is that historically women's transition into the masculine domain of the military is marked by physical and sexual abuse, poor reporting and recording cultures, and a difficult-to-grasp culture of fraternity sustained through silence, secrecy and unofficial sanctioning.

The 'women and combat' debate is often held hostage by one-dimensional notions of physical capacity and biomechanics, women's hygiene needs or male chivalry. It is locked into an oppositional argument with notions of gender equity and equal opportunity.

Yet these arguments neglect the reality: modern militaries need to embrace cultural diversity.

New Zealand Chief of Defence, Lieutenant General Rhys Jones explained that having women serving across military roles was a contemporary necessity and allows greater community engagement:

"Having women there to be able to interact with children, with other women, in Islamic society becomes quite important."

The infantry battalion is, for all intents and purposes, an exclusively male domain and this brotherhood is the clearest barrier to women's participation. Military fratriarchy - the rule of brothers - brings men together and keeps men together. Infantry men are tribal, bound by their shared license to use armed violence.

Their identities are forged around being in a tough, dangerous occupation - one of the few that protects the many. Sexualisation of women and rejection of difference is a pillar of arms corps combatant. There is a marked sense of identity and difference.

Given the historical record of the challenges, and the ADF's inadequacy in creating a safe and supportive context around gender equity and sexual safety, the ADF's plans for transition support are crucial.

The HRC report suggests the situation is so bad that it is necessary to set up a unit dedicated to dealing with sexual misconduct in the armed forces. There have been 13 major inquiries into sexual harassment and similar abuse in the military since 1995 and the first phase of the HRC investigation, released last November, reported that 70 per cent of female cadets at ADFA had been sexually harassed.

But we also need more information.

In terms of military-effectiveness, where is the research to suggest that mixed infantry units work? In a cultural-change sense: how equipped is the ADF to manage the challenges of women moving into the frontier of the arms corps?

Central to this are questions over how higher ranks can be achieved without combat and command experience. This is a recognition of the fact that accumulating the fruit salad (medals and bars) of warfare brings significant kudos to all forms of command authority.

The death of NZ's Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker leads us to rethink the Australian military's ongoing evolution in gender equity: and the picture isn't all grim.

In 2005 the NZ HREOC praised the NZDF for its work in implementing cultural change around gender. Rates of sexual harassment had declined significantly, and importantly sexual harassment has come to be seen as a 'fairness issue rather than a gender issue'.

At least from one perspective the NZ military is leading the way in gender change.

What can Australia learn from this experience?

Ben Wadham is a former infantry soldier and military investigator. He researches military culture and civl military relations at the School of Education, Flinders University. View his full profile here.